Siemens AG Chooses Security Weaver to Handle Global SoD SAP Compliance Reporting

Security Weaver™, a leading provider of SAP compliance software solutions, today announced that Siemens AG, one of the world's largest electrical engineering and electronics companies, has selected Security Weaver for managing segregation of duties (SoD) violations in the area of P2P processes to ensure SAP systems are free of SoD conflicts and inappropriate access to sensitive transactions.

 For Siemens AG, compliance in the wake of Sarbanes-Oxley legislation was a vital factor in deciding on a reporting system for SoD conflicts. According to the Finance Executives International (FEI), which annually surveys its members, for 200 companies with average revenues of $6.8 billion the average compliance costs were $2.9 million. Cost can be significantly greater for larger companies such as Siemens AG.

“The implementation speed, intuitive user handling and the value of immediate usage of the product without major customizing led Siemens AG, amongst other key features like application handling, reporting efficiency and integration within SAP, to the purchase of Security Weaver”, said Michael Brauer, head of Siemens CIO CA/Program Manager for P2P Data Assurance.

According to Gartner, Inc. in the February 9, 2007 research, MarketScope for Segregation of Duties Controls Within ERP, 2007, by Paul E. Proctor et al, “segregation of duties controls for ERP systems will be an ongoing concern to auditors, particularly in the context of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and similar legislation worldwide. The demand for SoD functionality will grow through 2010 as organizations look to automate controls for efficiency and cost savings.”

Security Weaver delivers real-time capabilities for managing SoD conflicts through the use of a predefined, yet fully customizable, SoD matrix. This means that companies won’t waste time answering access questions for those users who simply want to do their jobs. Instead of addressing each request on an individual basis, the IT staff can assign mitigations to an entire user group instead of just an individual. Additionally, SoD status for the entire organization can be viewed in 3D.

Siemens AG intends to extend the usage of Security Weaver for their major non SAP ERP systems like Exact, Oracle Financials, Peoplesoft, JD Edwards, etc. They expect the same implementation speed as during the installation and roll out for SAP Applications.

“This is a truly significant customer win for us on a number of levels,” said Neil McConnell, Security Weaver COO. “It demonstrates that cost-effective SoD management and reporting is now a global concern, not just SOX-related in the U.S. It also underscores the significant advantage Security Weaver for SAP has in performance and usability. For a company such as Siemens to deploy a single solution to all of its IT organizations and subsidiaries is largely unprecedented. Additionally, our partner, SPV America, has been integral at every step, from insuring that Siemens was fully apprised of our significant advantages compared to the competition, to running the demanding tests that ultimately proved Security Weaver's superiority.”

"SPV America's goal is to help our clients meet their changing business needs and advance our clients commitment to quality by implementing and improving internal controls for operating and maintaining applications," said Vanessa Balogh, President of SPV America Inc. " Security Weaver understands the need for and the importance of an efficient and solid SoD management solution and addresses this very effectively with their Security Weaver for SAP. We are happy to be partnering with Security Weaver."

About Security Weaver

Security Weaver is the world’s leading provider of application controls management software for SAP. Our flagship software suite, Security Weaver, is engineered to take the guesswork out of compliance in your SAP environment and delivers actionable results in a matter of days. Our tools provide true real-time automation of SAP compliance tasks such as management of segregation of duties (SoD) conflicts, full automation of the user provisioning process, control of emergency access, along with providing robust reporting capabilities. Our applications have been recognized as world-class in terms of performance, scalability, ease of installation and ease of use. Organizations throughout the world are using Security Weaver to provide a robust application controls framework in SAP while providing management, business, finance, IT and audit with the tools and visibility they need to reduce the risk of fraud and ensure compliance. For more information, visit www.securityweaver.com. 

About Siemens AG

Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a global powerhouse in electronics and electrical engineering, operating in the industry, energy and healthcare sectors. The company has around 400,000 employees (in continuing operations) working to develop and manufacture products, design and install complex systems and projects, and tailor a wide range of solutions for individual requirements. For over 160 years, Siemens has stood for technical achievements, innovation, quality, reliability and internationality. In fiscal 2007, Siemens had revenue of €72..4 billion and income from continuing operations of €3.9 billion (IFRS).  Further information is available in the Internet at: www.siemens.com. January 2008

About SPV America

SPV America founded 1999 as a subsidiary of SPV GmbH, Germany, focuses on SAP consulting services in multiple regulatory environments including GXP, SOX, Euro SOX. Using its Trademark “Auditproof™" SAP Systems, SPV targets industry independent PRE-IPO and publicly traded Companies. In the past years SPV has established its name as a partner of choice for Governance, Risk and Compliance driven solutions and services. For more information, visit www.spvus.com.